Improvement in firemen s shields



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

S.M0GARTY. Fireman's Shield.

No. 211,101. Patented .Ian. 7,1879 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

, S. MGOARTY. Firemans Shield No. 211,101. Patented Jan. 7,- 1879.-.

N- PETERS, PHOT HER, WASHINGTON. DC

SAMUEL MOG ARTY, OF AURORA, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN FIREMENS SHIELDS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 211,191, dated January7, 1879 application filed October 17, 1878.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL MGOARTY, of

Aurora, in the county of Kane and State of Illinois, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Shields for the Protection ofFiremen at Fires; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had while behind the shield or guard, to manageand direct thehose-nozzle and to see through such protecting shield.

My improvements consist, mainly, in the manner of attaching the shieldto the carriage, and whereby it may be raised and locked to place foruse, or turned down out of use; in special devices for raising andlowering a slide which supports the tip of the nozzle; in a specialarrangement of adjustingstraps, serving not only to support the nozzleand hose and relieve the fireman, but also to prevent the nozzle beingpulled away from the port-hole in the shield, and at the same timepermitting a free and easy manipulation of the nozzle; in combiningtherewith a seat of wire-netting or other open work of reticulatedmaterial to permit the ready escape of water through it; and in otherdetails, hereinafter stated.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view, Fig. 2 an elevationwith the shield down, Fig. 3 a vertical section, of an apparatusembodying my invention; and the remaining figures are detail views ofseparate parts, enlarged.

A is a carriage-frame, and which may be supported either on two Wheels,as shown, or upon four. 13 is a metallic shield, which at its lower partmay be pivoted or centered either upon the frame or upon the axle G. Inthe drawings I have shown it as arranged to turn on centered, and whichadmit of its being either turned down to a nearly horizontal position,when out of use, or of being turned up to.a vertical position and lockedto place automatically by a spring-catch, e; and this catch, by means ofits projection c.may be operated from the inside of the shield.

The shield is made double-walled, as shown, and the space between thesewalls may, if desired, be filled with any suitable non-conductingmaterial; but I would state that I make no claim, broadly, to doublewalls, nor to an interposed non-conductor between such walls. The shieldis provided with a vertically-adjustable slide, F, adapted to rise andfall in the spacebetween the inner and outer walls, and in such slide isthe port-hole g to receive the end of the nozzle H, and which Ipreferably attach to a short piece or section, I, of hose, so that itmay always be in readi ness in connection with the apparatus; and suchsection may then be readily coupled with the main hose in the usualmanner of coupling, and without useless delay.

To raise or lower the slide, in order to raise or lower the mouth of thenozzle, as may be needed, I connect it by appropriate rods, links J, orchains to hand-levers J J, hung, respectively, on pivots or centers 7a70 on the inside of the shield. The slide is also furnished with acurved rod or wire, I, projecting inward from the slide, and adapted byits size and shape to receive the tip of the nozzle and to support it ata point somewhat to the rear of the port-hole and of the extreme end ofthe nozzle, and which thus forms a bearing upon which the nozzle may beturned or manipulat-ed by the fireman as if upon a universal joint, soas to permit him to direct the stream of water to any point desired, theport-hole being made large enough relatively to the noz-.

zle-mouth to permit this movement.

To avoid taxing the strength of the fireman too much, I relieve him fromconstantly upholding the nozzle, and also a considerable Weight of hose,by providing a strap, m, suspendedfrom the roof of the shield, andwhich,

by means of holes in the strap and a buckle or a hook, at, allows ofraising and sustaining the nozzle at any desired elevation. To thisstrap 1 apply a pair of stirrups, slides, or loops, 0 0, which arelinked together by a joint, and

these span the nozzle toward its rear or larger diameter. These loopsshould preferably support the nozzle at the rear of its annular rib orswell p, and as the weight of the hose and nozzle tends to tighten thegripe of the loops upon the nozzle, the result is that the strap exertsa constant tendency to pull the nozzle fl'lorward and keep it to itsplace in the portole.

Another flexible strap, q, also adjustable as to its operative length,connects to an eye or loop, '1', near the bottom of the shield, and itis also connected at any desired part of the hose, near the nozzle, by acord, strap, or other device; and this strap being properly adjusted, italso serves to prevent the hose being pulled back out of its place inthe shielda contingency to which it would be constantly subjected at afire unless provided againstand which would largely impair theusefulness of any firemans shield, as the stream of water would notreach the fire, but be wasted and-discharged within instead of throughthe shield, and upon the person and clothing of the fireman.

V The peep-holes or windows 8 s, which enable the fireman to see thefire, I close with mica or toughened glass, or any equivalenttranslucent material which will stand the heat, and such material may beput in with an airspace between two pieces.

Instead of supporting the tip of the nozzle within the port-hole by thedevices shown, it may be secured by means of a swivel, or by anyappropriate adjustable clamp or fixture.

The seat t is preferably made of wire-netting or equivalent material,which will afford an escape for any water that may drip from the nozzle.

'The step uis intended for the fireman to stand upon while on duty at afire, or to rest his feet upon while sitting upon the seat It, whilegoing to or from the fire, and it is placed at such an elevation as toafford him a dry standing-place, and thus away from any mud, water,snow, cinders, 850., that may be upon the ground.

The handle '11, by which the machine may be drawn or pushed, is providedwith rings ww, to which ropes may be attached, and upon its under sideare spikes or spurs a: as, which are intended to rest upon or in theground and keep the shield steady when in use at a fire.

The machine may be drawn by itself, or behind a hose-cart or othervehicle.

The shield B may be constructed and applied so as to stand at anydesired angle relatively to its'frame, instead of at right angles, whenin position for use.

The carriage may be made with or without springs, as preferred, and themachine may be made mainly of metal or not, as desired;

and the shield may be adjustable or not upon the frame, or upon theaxle, or upon the axles in case two axles be used with the carriage.

It will now be evident that, while the machine may be pushed close up toa fire and safely protect the fireman or firemen within it from the heatand from falling fire-brands or water, bricks, cinders, &c., yet theconstruction allows him to manipulate the hose with great facility, andwith no needless expenditure and waste of strength, as the weight of thehose and nozzle is sustained by the straps, and they do not need to becontinually pulled up by him to place, as well as upheld by mainstrength. He can thus perform duty twice as long and with greaterefficiency than by any apparatus known to me; and when the nozzle isadjusted to throwa stream at a given point for any considerable time, oreven for a few moments, he is perfectly free to sit down and rest untilthe direction of the stream is to be changed.

I claim- 1. In a wheeled firemans shield, the combination, with thecarriage, of a protecting wall or shield pivoted or jointed thereon,substantially as described, whereby it may be elevated and locked to itsupright position, or turned down when out of use.

2. The combination, with a shield, B, of the vertically-adjustable slideF, provided with the port-hole and with mechanism for raisingandlowering such slide, substantially as shown and described.

3. In combination, the protecting shieldstrap m, with itshose-supporting loops and a bent rod or wire, Z, substantially as shownand described.

4. The adjusting-straps m and q, in combination with the shield and witheach other, as shown, and for the purposes described.

5. The carriage-frame provided with the open-mesh or wire-gauze seat andwith the broad platform u, so applied to the frame as to be level whenthe shield is in use, and serving as an elevated standing-place, andalso serving as a foot-rest when the fireman is seated.

SAMUEL MOOARTY. Witnesses:

SIMON W. Tnnrcnnn, IRA H. FITCH.

